Welch Photo: Jr. High Kids in Charge at KFBB?

Posted on by Standard 4

HOW CHILDISH!

This week KFBB News in Great Falls ran an item about the Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction race, opening with a nice video of incumbent Democrat Denise Juneau addressing her adoring supporters, and featuring pretty children holding “Juneau” signs.

The news producer then had to put a graphic on the screen to represent the challenger, Republican Sandy Welch.  So what image did the station select?  An obscure Facebook photo from a Halloween party showing Welch dressed up as a devil.  Really!

What on earth were they thinking?   A 10-second Google search reveals dozens of appropriate and official photographs of Ms. Welch, and her well-oiled campaign staff is loaded with PR materials immediately available on request, so this was no accident.  Obviously KFBB has no reservations about revealing their political persuasions to the world.

Welch’s campaign has enjoyed big momentum recently,  having won the endorsement of State Senator Jonathan Windy Boy.   Windy Boy said, “Denise Juneau doesn’t understand how to solve the problems our schools are facing. Juneau increases mandates and creates new programs with great media campaigns. Mandates don’t help kids. After hearing Juneau debate, it’s clear that she isn’t focused on increasing school performance. ”

Windy Boy’s endorsement was reassuring to me as an indicator that clear-thinking Native Americans in Montana don’t vote strictly by color (see my post about that).  And, despite Juneau’s insulting contention, I’ll bet they love their kids enough to feed them (see my post about that).

Sandy Welch is probably enjoying a good laugh, and KFBB will doubtless wither in their embarrassment over this juvenile episode. Maybe it was “bring your child to work day” and the producer’s junior high kid was calling the shots.  Or perhaps the producer is bucking for a promotion to the big time – shameless Democrat shill MSNBC.

By the way, I think Sandy Welch is a pretty cute little devil!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

She’s just a devil woman,
With evil on her mind.
Beware the devil woman,
She’s gonna get you from behind!

Devil Woman – Cliff Richards

Caddell: Media “Threat To Future of Country”

Posted on by Standard 2

We have known for a long time that the media is biased toward the President and the Democrats.  We watch with incredulity as news services and networks toil around the clock to protect and promote their party.  But have we really considered how serious the demise of the fourth estate is to the future of our nation?

Pat Caddell, in an impassioned speech to the AIM (Accuracy in Media) conference, blistered the media on a number of fronts:

“I think we’re at the most dangerous time in our political history in terms of the balance of power in the role that the media plays in whether or not we maintain a free democracy.”

He is furious that the truth about the circumstances of an American ambassador’s death was hidden by the media, to protect the administration, for nine days.

“We’ve had nine days of lies over what happened because they can’t dare say it’s a terrorist attack, and the press won’t push this,” said Caddell. “Yesterday there was not a single piece in The New York Times over the question of Libya. Twenty American embassies, yesterday, are under attack. None of that is on the national news. None of it is being pressed in the papers.”

Caddell said he is more frightened now than has ever been.

“When they decide that their job is not simply to tell you who you may vote for, and who you may not, but, worse—and this is the danger of the last two weeks—what truth that you may know, as an American, and what truth you are not allowed to know, they have, then, made themselves a fundamental threat to the democracy, and, in my opinion, made themselves the enemy of the American people.  And it is a threat to the very future of this country if…we allow this stuff to go on.”

Caddell reveals truths about the corruption in our media as only an insider could.  “You get what you ask for,” was his final blast of frustration.  Here is the main part of his chilling presentation.


Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Get your blues on for some hot Jonny Lang guitar –

Lie to me, it doesn’t matter anymore
It could never be, the way it was before

Lie To Me – Jonny Lang

Another Report – Montana Parents Don’t Feed Their Kids

Posted on by Standard 4

A few weeks ago I poked fun at Montana State Superintendent of Schools Denise Juneau when she gleefully reported to the DNC that in Montana “sometimes school is the only place where our kids can get a hot meal and a warm hug.”

Aside from being a direct insult to Montana parents, I thought it was just hyped-up rhetoric for the victim-worshippers assembled at the convention.  But maybe I was wrong.

Now the president of the Montana Rural Education Association, Tim Tharp, has made the same claim.  On “Voices of Montana” with radio host Aaron Flint, Tharp also described “students who come from homes where they don’t always get a good breakfast or have a lot of good food waiting for them when they get home.  We have a lot of kids in poverty across Montana.  They get 10 good meals a week, and that’s what they get- breakfast and lunch at school.”

If this is true – if, in spite of all the numerous assistance and food stamp programs available – there are parents who don’t care enough about their children to even FEED THEM, we have a lot bigger problem in Montana than Michelle Obama’s menu.  What in the world is our Montana Dept. of Health and Human Services doing?  This is blatant child abuse and neglect.

And I submit that if Ms. Juneau (and perhaps Mr. Tharp) has first-hand knowledge of child abuse and fails to report it, they are culpable too.

Like all moral adults, I want kids to have nutritious and enjoyable meals.  I would have no problem if lunch was part of the school budget and provided free for all students, regardless of income.  I would, however, expect parents to take care of feeding their children at home, not only as a parental responsibility, but also as a constructive and enjoyable family activity.

What concerns me are the repeated claims that many Montana parents are neglecting their children and it is apparently acceptable behavior.  If that’s true, shame on all of us, for turning our backs on the social mechanisms that once prevented child neglect.

Is it possible that many Montana parents who actually do love their children, and actually are able to feed them as generations before have done, have decided “if the government will buy all of my childrens’ meals, maybe I should use our family money for something else?”

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Eat it!  Eat it!
Don’t you make me repeat it!
Have a banana, have a whole bunch
It doesn’t matter what you had for lunch
Just eat it!  Eat it, eat it, eat it!

Eat It – Weird Al Yankovic

Simon Says

Posted on by Standard Reply

Can we take a break from politics for a minute?

Sometimes I think it’s good to stop and think about what’s really important to us.  I know you care deeply about the direction of our nation, and the upcoming elections, and the battle of beliefs.  And I think I know why you care.

It’s all about the ones we love.

We conservatives are into facts, organization, and logic.  Our liberal friends base their judgments on feelings.  It’s hard for us to understand each other.  Can an artist be a conservative?  Can a progressive be logical?  Do conservatives have a heart?

As a musician and songwriter, and a conservative, it’s an ongoing struggle for me, with one foot grounded in the world of hard numbers and reality, and the other mired in poetry and hope.

I’d like you to listen to a song written by perhaps the most brilliant American songwriter of our generation, Paul Simon.  Whether you are a conservative or a progressive, I’ll bet you connect on a gut level with Simon’s observations about our deepest human emotions – the depth of passion for a partner or spouse, the insecurity and doubt about the choices we have made, and the unspeakable love a parent has for his or her child.

Please enjoy the work of an American master songwriter, Paul Simon.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

How Good Are You At Dumpster Diving?

Posted on by Standard 1

The reports from Spain are heartbreaking –   well-educated, young professionals hiding their faces in shame as they pick through dumpsters for scraps of food.

I have been wailing for years about America’s sucking chest wound – our failing economy.  The debt, the deficit, our plunging individual earnings and net worth, the unemployment rate, the huge government share of GDP – all components of  a dying economy.  Nothing is more threatening to the future of our nation and our kids.

And still, the media dwells on Mitt Romney’s tax returns, and who should pay for Sandra Fluke’s birth control pills.  The Senate leader, Harry Reid, who doesn’t bother to write a budget or perform any other meaningful work for years, questions Romney’s religious purity.  President Obama yuks it up with Whoopi Goldberg instead of finding solutions and leading.  The progressives and their special interest groups stop every attempt at economic development, including our amazing energy opportunity.  The Fed prints more money and freezes interest.  No serious attempt is made on any front to stop our nation’s bleeding.

I know how passionate both conservatives and liberals are about social issues.  But they don’t make a damn bit of difference if our economy fails.  Our government must recognize and solve the fiscal crisis before we spend one more dollar or one more ounce of effort on anything else.

Here’s the cold reality, our choice is stark and clear.  We can drop the political correctness, the victim-worship, and the lame excuses, and make a serious effort to put America back to work.  Or we can continue our headlong lurch into socialism, larger and more intrusive government, increased entitlements, and disdain for wealth creation.  Just like Spain.

See you at the dumpster.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Oh – think twice
It’s just another day for you and me in paradise

Another Day In Paradise – Phil Collins

No Vote Fraud in Montana? You Kiddin’ Me?

Posted on by Standard 7

How incredibly irresponsible can an elected official be?  Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch recently distributed an editorial saying, “Crying wolf about the security of Montana’s elections is an intentional and deliberate attempt to decrease voter turnout by gaining support for laws that will restrict your right to vote.”

The official Montana Secretary of State website lists McCulloch’s number one priority: “interpreting state election laws and overseeing elections.”  Her job is to identify weaknesses in our voting system and take measures to prevent election fraud.  She should be proudly and aggressively investigating complaints, auditing processes, and training personnel to protect the integrity of our votes.

Instead, she denies any responsibility.  “The results are overwhelmingly clear. Voter fraud – votes knowingly cast by ineligible individuals – does not exist in Montana,” McCulloch wrote.

I think back to my first college job, busting my butt in Nelson’s tire shop in Great Falls on a cold November day, looking out at the long line of muddy, sloppy cars waiting for snow tire installation.   I sure wish I could have said “It is overwhelmingly clear!  There is no snow in Montana, so the need for snow tires does not exist!”

I would have been fired, and so should McCulloch.  There IS snow in Montana, and there IS election fraud.

Last weekend a group of Tea Party leaders from around the state met in Helena for a planning session, and one of the hot topics was the escalating incidence of election fraud.  One described how, in his small precinct, over 200 absentee ballots were mailed to out of state addresses!  Since the returned ballots were hidden from poll watchers by officials, no one knows how many were accepted as valid by the county election officials.

Another related how a poll watcher friend saw and pointed out to the official that twelve consecutive ballots were signed by the same person with the same pen.  The official blushed, and said “I’ll take care of this,” and removed the ballots to a back room, where nobody could see what ultimately happened to them.

A study of the 2008 Montana election results points out serious flaws in the Missoula County vote tabulator machine processes and the Montana Votes database.

While the absentee ballot is a great convenience, it is also an opportunity for easy election fraud.  And McColloch’s equating the requirement for photo ID at the polls with “voter repression” is just asinine and disingenuous.  There can be no other reason for denying this reasonable test of voter integrity than the accommodation of fraud.

This is not a partisan issue.  Voters of all parties and persuasions should demand election integrity from their secretary of state.  Linda McCulloch is not interested in fulfilling that number-one priority.  If she doesn’t believe there is election fraud in Montana, she is fooling herself – and the voters.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Enjoy one of the all-time great live concert bands – Styx

You’re fooling yourself if you don’t believe it
You’re kidding yourself if you don’t believe it

Fooling Yourself – Styx

Ugly Racism – Randy Newman Votes By Color

Posted on by Standard Reply

A few weeks ago I posed the question: Do You Vote By Color?

Today I learned, sadly, that Randy Newman does.  It’s a bitter pill – Newman is a great songwriter, a thoughtful man, and a champion of the little guy.  I have always loved his musical craftsmanship, and he seems to get better with age.

But now it turns out that Newman chooses his political leaders by skin color.  Purely based on race, nothing else.  No consideration of experience, knowledge, leadership abilities, economic dexterity, or understanding of the nation and its citizens.

Just pigmentation.

Newman’s new song “I’m Dreaming of a White President” is an attempt to skewer people who may have voted for someone only because he (all past presidents, inferred) is white – which is reprehensible.  But in doing so, he advocates voting for someone only because he (Obama, inferred) is black.  Just as reprehensible.

Mr. Newman, Obama got elected.  The race card is no longer valid.  Please burn yours and start thinking about the future of the nation and your grandchildren instead of the harm done to blacks many generations ago.  You do no one any favors by fanning the flames of racism, or revealing your own.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

And now a child can understand
That this is the law of all the land
All the land!

Black and White – Three Dog Night

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Posted on by Standard 4

A new Pew Research Poll says women prefer Obama over Romney by 19 points.

I am trying to process this tidbit of information.  I wish I could channel my “feminine” side, but I guess I am just not a metrosexual.  This will be difficult.

Let’s see, why on earth would women prefer Obama?  Could it be because he is strongly in favor of abortion?  No, it seems to me that women like babies – at least all the women I know love babies and are appalled at the thought of killing them.

Well then, is it because women are better off under Obama’s economic leadership?  Well, no, in this era of unemployment, it seems that women have been hit harder than men.

I went to the “Women For Obama” website to try to understand why they are for Obama. I didn’t learn anything there – they wanted my credit card information on the very first page, and I was not quite ready for that level of commitment.

Maybe the girls just think Obama is “cool”.   I mean, the Middle East is melting down, our ambassador is dead,  the Federal Reserve decides to hold interest at zero percent for the rest of our natural lives,  the federal debt rolls past $16 trillion – and the big “O” is yucking it up on David Letterman.  That’s cool.  I guess.  Maybe?

Well, I suppose the girls are impressed with how Obama understands their struggle to pay the bills, raise the kids, and stay afloat in these tough times.  I mean after all, he is one of us, the working class – oh, wait, there’s that thing with the Hollywood jet set, Beyonce and Jay-Z and the $40,000 a plate dinners (not exactly the McDonald’s dollar menu?).

Okay, I guess I just don’t get why the girls go crazy for Obama.  Maybe Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

(Between you and me, I don’t think Girls are that dumb . . . )

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Take a Minute And Enjoy an all-time classic – what a great video!

I come home in the morning light,
My mother says “When you gonna live your life right?”
Oh, mother,dear, We’re not the fortunate ones,
And girls, They wanna have fun!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper

Dental Work: $8k in US, $500 in Jordan

Posted on by Standard 2

On a visit to North Carolina last week, I took my wife’s car to our favorite local shop for some work.  It is owned and operated by two brothers from Amman, Jordan.  They emigrated to the US in the turbulent 1980s when the Jordanian government confiscated their successful business under martial law.  At the shop I always enjoy animated conversation with the brothers about families, world politics, current events, and automotive stuff.

While Jordan is still not exactly paradise, life there has improved dramatically in recent years under King Abdullah.  But that’s not the subject of my post this morning.

I asked Sam, the older brother, why he was out of the country the last time I had visited his shop – did he have a medical problem?  No, he said, he just needed some dental work.  That piqued my curiosity.

Sam said he went to two local dentists, and each one quoted him about $8000 for the job.  They prescribed somewhat different procedures, including removing some teeth that were actually healthy.  Uncomfortable with their approaches, and the cost, Sam had the x-rays sent to his family’s dentist in Jordan for a “third” opinion.  “They’re crazy,” was the opinion of the Jordanian dentist.

So Sam flew to Jordan (the trip cost $1500) and had four crowns, two fillings, two root canals, and deep cleaning done there.  For $500.  And they left his good teeth alone.  When he returned, he had the work checked out by one of his local dentists.  “Nice job,” the dentist reported.  Sam had saved six grand.

This points out what is wrong with our American medical system – fee for service.  The more services that are provided, the more money the doctor makes.  And since most of us don’t pay for medical procedures out of our pockets, we don’t check – or care – how much our medical care costs. The other side of the dilemma – cost shifting.  Doctors provide free or under-compensated services via government programs or charity, financed by overcharging those who do pay.

Is ObamaCare the answer?  Oh, hell no!  Government takeover of the medical industry will result in gross inefficiency, incompetence, and rationing – the normal standard of performance for any government work.

But those who say our current health care system is the best in the world are naive.  Our nation has the wealth to do some things medically that other nations can’t.  But the cost is out of control and the quality is not what it should be.

Our next president will have to address the health care issue – it can’t be kicked down the road any longer, or soon many of us will be “medical tourists”.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Here’s an alternate health care plan:
(bet you haven’t heard this one in a while!)

Put the lime in the coconut,
And call me in the morning!

Coconut Song – Harry Nilsson